AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A year ago at Formula One\u2019s United States Grand Prix, Ferrari had the car to beat McLaren and Red Bull.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t leading the constructors\u2019 championship at the time \u2013 that was McLaren, which eventually clinched the 2024 title with a 14-point gap over the Italian outfit. But it did secure a 1-2 finish, with Charles Leclerc standing on the top step of the podium here at Circuit of the Americas, and it was powering back during the second half of the season, turning its performance around.<\/p>\n
This year is a very different story. Ferrari has yet to win a grand prix in 2025, and while Leclerc had secured five podium finishes before the Austin weekend, his teammate Lewis Hamilton was still searching for his first.<\/p>\n
Leclerc said after qualifying third for Sunday\u2019s race that this year\u2019s Ferrari doesn\u2019t feel \u201cthat different\u201d to last season\u2019s challenger, adding that \u201cit\u2019s just that the overall performance is very poor\u201d and that its qualifying to race pace is \u201cpretty similar.\u201d<\/p>\n
But come the end of the grand prix, where he finished third after battling Lando Norris for sustained periods, he described the weekend as \u201cperfect\u201d for Ferrari. But he left feeling he\u2019d \u201cbe surprised if we can achieve anything better until the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
It shows just how far the team has fallen compared to both its standards and fans\u2019 expectations, considering the preseason hype around Hamilton joining and the progress Ferrari was making a year ago. And it comes at a time when plenty of noise surrounds the team, specifically about the futures of both Leclerc and team boss Fred Vasseur.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second part of the season hasn\u2019t been easy,\u201d Leclerc said on Sunday. \u201cThere is completely unfounded noise and rumours around the team. And I think to demonstrate we can stay focused on the job in those kinds of situations and be rewarded with a podium is a really nice feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
The on-track situation in Austin<\/p>\n
As the U.S. Grand Prix weekend unfolded, Ferrari steadily climbed back into contention. It bounced back from a gearbox issue with Leclerc\u2019s car during Friday practice, recovered across sprint qualifying and the sprint race, and fine-tuned its car in qualifying. It managed to find \u201ca lot more performance\u201d, Leclerc said, which led to a strong race.<\/p>\n
To put it into perspective: Leclerc had qualified 10th and finished fifth in the sprint race \u2013 gaining considerably in the Turn 1 chaos that took out the McLaren drivers and several others ahead \u2013 before his strong grand prix qualifying result. He trailed only Max Verstappen and Norris on the grid.<\/p>\n
While he said Ferred fine-tuned its car and altered it to boost his driving style, he added, \u201cA swing of performance like from (Friday) to (Saturday) is still to be understood, to be completely honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
What stood in Leclerc\u2019s way of driving in clean air, which is where the Ferrari thrived during last year\u2019s race here, were two of the 2025 title contenders. It would be difficult for Leclerc to pass them, given their cars\u2019 superior performances this season, and so he decided to go with an \u201caggressive strategy\u201d for the race start.<\/p>\n
While the vast majority of the grid fitted their cars with the more durable medium tires in the roasting-hot conditions, Leclerc went with softs.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy plan was to be first after the first corner. I didn\u2019t quite make that, but at least I gained a position, which helped me a little bit with free air,\u201d Leclerc said, referencing his early pass on Norris. \u201cAnd that definitely helped our race. I knew it was aggressive, but considering the feeling I had on the hard tire in FP1, I was quite convinced I didn\u2019t want to touch that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just a little bit worried when my engineer got on the radio on the grid and said I was the only car on softs, basically. I thought, \u2018OK, maybe there\u2019s something I didn\u2019t feel right\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Leclerc\u2019s strategy worked. He took a wider line in Turn 1 at the start and snagged second from Norris as they powered through the corner\u2019s downhill exit.<\/p>\n
In the Texan heat, it would surely only be a matter of time before his softer tires began falling apart. Yet it took over a third of the race for Norris to pass the slower Ferrari, finally diving by in the braking zone heading into Turn 12 on Lap 21 of 56.<\/p>\n
Norris gets it done on Leclerc in the braking zone \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n
That’s P2 for the McLaren! \ud83d\udd00#F1<\/a> #USGP<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/TzktXDimps<\/a><\/p>\n
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